Dear Progressive Reader,
The Electoral College will meet on Monday to finalize the results of an election that took place more than a month ago. President Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of that election have failed at every turn—most recently with the U.S. Supreme Court’s three-sentence refusal yesterday to hear a case from Texas to undo the votes of four other states. “The Supreme Court really let us down. No Wisdom, No Courage!,” Trump tweeted last night. Mark Fiore, on the other hand, illustrates how “President Trump is trashing democracy on his way out the door and congressional Republicans are complicit.”
As Trump is criticizing many of the very judges he appointed for not bowing to his baseless demands, many conservative judges are facing backlash and threats from Trump supporters. “I can't believe that Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett were swallowed by the swamp so quickly! So sad! Where do their allegiances lie?,” tweeted one Trump supporter. Perhaps their allegiances are to the law? In Wisconsin, state Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn has received threats and condemnation for refusing to hear one of Trump’s numerous suits. [The court will be hearing another of Trump’s lawsuits today.] Bill Lueders knows the details; he got a copy of all of the judge’s recent phone messages.
Now that all of the votes have been counted, it is time to revisit the question of who in this coutry is still not allowed to vote. Patrick Stephens, an inmate at Sing Sing maximum-security prison, sent us his thoughts this week. “Of what value is a democracy that actively seeks to silence the voices of its most vulnerable citizens?,” he writes. “What is needed, once and for all, is a Constitutional amendment positively asserting without exception the right of all citizens to vote, including those incarcerated and formerly incarcerated.”
Also this week, Jeff Bryant, lead fellow of our Public School Shakedown project, interviews Derek Black about his new book Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy, on why we need public schools now more than ever to rebuild a divided society. Paul Buhle reviews a new book by historian David Roediger on The Sinking Middle Class. And scholar and activist Paul Von Blum looks at political art by Armenian artists during the current little-reported conflict in the South Caucasus region.
On Tuesday, December 15 at 7:00pm CST we will be hosting a live book event with John Nichols for his new book - The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace's Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics. Please plan to join us via Youtube or Facebook Live.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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